Lens – lentl: Hidden/Trace

Photography at Kasa Gallery “Lens - lentl: Hidden/Trace”Sabancı University Kasa Gallery presents this year’s exhibition from the series ‘Lens – lentl’ which focuses on photographic works on 17th May. Works of three young artists will be on show with the title ‘Hidden/trace’ until 24th June.

Murat Germen who proposed the conceptual frame of the exhibition and the participating artists, Ender Gelgeç, Ege Kanar and Melisa Önel, explains the starting points as follows: ‘Certain events, people, objects, memories and experiences leave their traces on us. Some of these traces, with their unique characters, change into secrets, and for this reason one starts to exist just by one’s self on this hidden/trace. Life passes so fast lately, especially for the younger generation; traces are formed quickly and perhaps erased even more quickly, in order to leave space for the next ones. In such profusion of traces, it is an attempt to understand what is remembered, what adds to identities or in other words what turns into secrets.’

Ender Gelgeç gives a clue about his work ‘All grown-ups are cowards’: ‘transparencies beneath the glasses, shallowness of real estates, skin on the transparencies, there is nothing deeper then the glass.’

In Ege Kanar’s series, titled ‘At the end of the day’ photographed places are those which are designed for people but for some reason are left abandoned. These places ‘are just like left into a temporary vacuum, and all the scars and records on them are made more visible in this void.’ The artist points to ‘the sense of nostalgia which arises with temporary withdrawal of public from these places, the temporary longing for yesterday or tomorrow at such moments.’

Melisa Önel literally covers the gallery walls with her photographic wall papers. The will for knowing the other motivates and directs the artist to produce her work ‘...we do whatever we can for this end...when we think that we understand the other, there is necessarily something from ourselves and the other in this perception, but now it has a value on its own...In the best circumstances we understand the other in the way the other constucts him/herself.’

Artists

Ender Gelgeç; wants to play tambourine, considers leaving...

Ege Kanar; 1981, İstanbul. After Kadıköy Anadolu Lisesi, graduated from Sabancı University, Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program. Apllied to Prague Fine Arts Academy (FAMU) for a post-graduate degree on photography, after working as a full-time graphic designer for a while. Currently he studies at FAMU and plays with the band “Change of Plans” .